from his new cookbook: Jamie at Home. The photography in this book is just great, and I'd challenge you to want to make these beans based solely on the photos of them alone. Jamie Oliver does have great asthetic, and even though his food seems to be a bit high-brow, it is always amazingly simple to prepare.

I never tried cranberry beans before, but found them easily at my food co-op. And his recipe is fantastic... only I had to refrain from making it into a pot of soup. I swear it tasted as if I added bacon, and they are completely vegetarian. I was planning to eat them on toast with tomatoes and basil like he suggests, but I never got that far because for lunch today, I saw the mango salsa from yesterday peering back at me with longing. (This particular mango salsa was raw, but extra good due to the red chile from my garden, and the plethora of herbs from my yard: cilantro, pineapple sage and Vietnamese coriander. And man were those chiles HOT!)

HOT chiles.

So as I often do with leftover mango salsa, I made tacos. The beans were delicious, and kind of remind me of super big pintos. Of course, I added cheese, and hot sauce, but still I could taste those wonderful beans. I don't think I've ever had a bean I didn't like, but these - especially with the rosemary and thyme Jamie Oliver style - I'll definately earmark to make again.

And I will go to sleep tonight thinking of the lunch I'll have tomorrow, to Mr. Oliver's recommendation: beans on toast, with tomatoes and basil. I'm sure a photo will be forthcoming...

Currently Reading...

Photo.

This is probably the most common sight around my table. My mantra, “if in doubt, make tacos”, is indelible writing on my soul. I’ve got to get around to asking @thesteelfarmer if they can repair my cast iron plancha that I cracked. I’m still using it imperfect, but I think about it every time I make tortillas. (Basically I think about it at least once or twice a week.). #tacosporvida #tacos #fridaynight #realfood #homecook

I got 7 boxes of books packed tonight, after deciding not to be overwhelmed standing in front of the first bookcase, acting like 45 days in a box was somehow going to separate me forever from those friends. I actually hadn’t held my 1972 Webster dictionary in quite some time, and it felt familiar and weighty. Classic in denim blue and gilded in gold, I wonder what words are in there that have somehow gone out of style with newer editions. I found a 1929 copy of Enough Rope by Dorothy Parker, and spent a quarter hour leafing through it, taking note of how someone had checked key poems. Coincidence? Maybe not. And a drawing of an eye twenty years old, on a post-it as a bookmark. Careful eyes may note the long strands of hair likely belonging to the girl who left it for me. (She recalled drawing it, but I felt like it was the first time I’d seen it, strange because I do have a good memory. It makes me wonder what else I’ve forgotten that collected books might reveal to me...) #packingbooks #books #dictionary #merriamwebster #dorothyparker

Workday bake. I always think I won’t be excited about a new loaf, but fortunately that experience has yet to hit me. Each one is like a new living thing, come to take up residence for a week. Let my epitaph be “if you have bread, you have dinner.” #bake #sourdough #bread #progluten #wildyeast #breadscoring #acaseofthetuesdays

I don’t come from a family that has photos all over our walls. There are a few, carefully placed, on my parent’s’ walls - mostly taken after grandchildren happened and babies and school pictures started creeping in. Our senior pictures hiding in cabinets, there if you’re really looking. Black and whites of grandparents lurking, but not obvious. Most of us are camera shy and that’s okay. I was so full of happiness at the sight of my family yesterday that I could barely stand it. And even happier that we were all enjoying the moment so much that nobody even took out a phone once and snapped a picture as proof. These memories, made the old-fashioned way, tend to linger in the brain pan the way fleeting social media pictures could never dream to do. Today before I had to drive back my mom lifted down the copy of the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook that she got (I think) as a wedding gift 45 years ago to show me a white cake recipe that she’d made recently that I tasted and loved. We didn’t have Joy growing up, we had this all-encompassing tome instead. My mom and I talked casually about the recipe and pictures in this book, how both of us have always wanted to make or even just eat petit fours, and how neither of us ever have made or eaten them. After she left the kitchen to get ready for church, I realized that I wouldn’t have a picture of my mother today, but I have this book and thousands of conversations. My whole lifetime of advice and the search for the best white cake recipes to embed in my memory. That all the beauty and generosity, the practicality and steadfastness my mom has, can be held in my hands if I want. My memory holds such a clear picture, and it won’t ever fade. #mothersday #betterhomesandgardens #homecook

I maybe omitted that when I made the Lillet spiked sabayon for @the_bojon_gourmet’s trifle I served at Easter, the first batch was cooked over a rigged situation that wasn’t ideal and I got water in the custard. I was so upset. So I separated another 8 eggs and began again with a better rigged situation. I froze the questionable sabayon, figuring that it was nothing if not exceptional ice cream base. I added heavy cream, and mixed toasted pecans. It’s ridiculously rich. It’s a velvet lounge coat that very nearly warms you up as you eat. 😍 #icecream #homemade #wastenotwantnot #glutenfree #frozencustard #wiscogirl